A New Hope
by Andi-iRock
Summary: The group learns Daryl has twin brothers who happen to be immune to walkers. With the help of a secret research facility, they are trying to make a cure, but does everyone want that cure? And just what else are these doctors cooking up? **Shane Not dead!** No pairing as of right now, some OCs (wow this summary sucks ass!)


****ATTENTION:****

**Do I have an intentional plot for this story? No. Do I have any special pairings? Not really. Hate me yet?! (P.S. I hate punctuation, so if I jack up something, please move past it with love).**

**This is gonna be an AU...oh yea, AU time! :D**

**Shane is still alive (cause Im mean and batshit crazy)**

**Daryl has twin younger brothers (oooooh, what am I doing?!)**

**Im hopped up on coffee so no one is safe! o.O**

**So without me talking anymore, I give you...WORDS!**

* * *

"Get off the farm now!" Glenn yelled at Maggie as walkers blocked out what little light the car was able to get from the moon. Screaming, and throwing the car into reverse, Maggie left the only home she had ever known, and watched in the rearview mirror as her whole world went up in flames.

* * *

After the farm had fallen, it had been a real blow to everyones morale, the Greene family more than anyone had been particularly quiet since seeing their whole world go down in flames. It was at this moment that Rick decided that while their little sanctuary had been taken from them, right at this moment, things could not get any worse than they currently were, so gathering everyone around a small fire in a section of small ruins, he laid out everything as black and white as he possibly could.

"At the CDC, Jenner, he, he told me we're all infected. Now, I didn't know what that meant before, but, after hearing what Daryl said about Randall not being bit, what he said seems to be the only thing that makes sense right now. He said as soon as our heart stops beatin' that whatever it is we have, whatevers inside us, is released." He glanced around at all the alarmed faces, no one quite knowing what to say.

"And you waited til now to tell us?! " It was Glenn who spoke up, unconsciously pulling Maggie closer to him as if to shield her from the new world they were living in.

"And how would that have sounded to you with no evidence? 'Hey man, as soon as you die, well, you become a walker, cause Jenner said so'." Rick countered, thumbs hooked in a belt loop on each side of his hip, head cocking to the side. "Seems to me, it would have been an unnecessary panic."

"Well that wasn't your call to make!" Glenn all but shouted at Rick.

"Then whose call was it?" Calm as ever, Daryl was crouched down low to the fire, chewing on a thumb nail, looking between the two men before fixing his gaze back on the small flames.

"Yea, Im with Daryl on this one." It was the most unlikely of the group to step forward from where he had been hidden in the shadows. Shane cautiously made his way toward the broken down group looking everyone square in the eye. "I know I may not always stand by his decisions, but what would knowing that have done to our morale? All y'all know as well as I do you would have given up and 'opted out' like Jenner. Would have seen there was no hope." Shane came to a stop right next to Rick on his right hand side, head held high despite what he had put the group through, and what he almost made Rick do. All Shane could think was how lucky he was to be alive at that moment, that Rick still saw something good in him when Shane had given him all the evidence to the contrary. "I say Ricks decision to wait til he had hard evidence to present was a good call, and I don't see how it couldn't have gone any better." He patted Rick on the shoulder before walking back to the corner, still feeling he was pushing his welcome in the group. He would have to do a lot of amending if he wanted to be in anyones good graces again.

Everyone started talking all at once, except for Daryl, Rick and Shane who just looked on, calm expressions, but eyes calculating the next best move to make.

**_SNAP_**

One sound, one snap of a branch made everything slow down and come to a quiet panic, eyes darting around in search of their unseen attacker.

"We need to move. We cant stay out here in the open so exposed!" Maggie hissed, tuckering herself into Glenns side. There were many nods around the campfire from the group, everyone becoming edgy when there were no other sounds made.

"Look, the last thing we need is for everyone to go running off into the dark like chicken with their heads cut off!" Rick hissed right back, emitting a silent challenge for someone to actually go running off into the woods. "Hershel, lemme take a look at the map, maybe theres a town not to far away that we can scavenge."

Hershel handed Rick a small wad of paper that had been folded several times over, sitting next to him when he spread the paper out revealing countless crooked and squiggled lines.

"Our farm was here." Hershel softly said, pointing to a small dot on the map. He looked up suddenly when he felt a presence behind him. No one had seen Daryl move from his spot next to the fire, but now he was crouching down behind Rick and Hershel examining the maps markings as well, moving over slightly when Shane joined the trio cautiously. He didnt bend down, just simply looked down from where he stood, holding his gun, and surveying their surroundings. "We went about 40 miles south, here." Tracing a line, Hershel showed the men their current location on the map, a small dot, with the next closest dot being at least a thumb away. The men sighed, Rick hung his head, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Daryl looked the map over again, sliding it closer when Hershel went to go sit with his youngest daughter Beth, throwing his arm over her shoulder and letting his body heat envelope her. Daryl bit his thumb again, and looked around, as if looking for something to look familiar to him. He cocked his head to one side, and read the map once more, folding it up, he walked over to where the group was slumping near the fire.

"I know a place nearby." Daryl handed the map back to Hershel, and went to the opposite to where everybody seemed to be crowded around, and resumed his crouched position again.

Immediately Ricks head snapped up and took in the appearance of the redneck. He was chewing on his thumbnail, staring at the fire. The man had just dropped a bomb on them, and now he was seemingly ignoring them.

"There was nothing on the map. Wherever we are, its isolated." Rick stated matter of factly, not wanting to get anyones hops up incase the redneck was mistaking where he thought they were. Still, a small bubble of hope rose in his chest.

"Cause it aint no town." Another off hand comment. Getting up from his crouch, Daryl put an end to their conversation, as he went to walk the perimeter, crossbow thrown over his shoulder, he stalked off into the dark.


End file.
